PAHRUMP, Nev. [Richard Abowitz writes on www.vegasblog.latimes.com] — To many people, Saphire’s career may look like a downward spiral. As a model she appeared in Penthouse. She moved on to doing porn and is now working as a prostitute at Chicken Ranch. But that is not at all how Saphire sees it. “I have a plan now,” she says. “I am going to work doing this for another 12 years and then I am going to quit to start a business.”

The business she wants to start is creating period clothing of the sort favored by people who reenact the Civil War or go to Renaissance fairs. And, while that may seem eccentric, Saphire is actually working toward her goal. The most prominent object in her room is her sewing machine, and as I type this, she is working on a paper for her history class at UNLV.

Unlike most of the other women here, Saphire is completely not fussy about how I photograph her. There was no quick change into a sexy outfit or even checking her hair in the mirror. “I don’t want to look like a generic girl. I’ve accepted that I am not going to fit any typical stereotype of how we should look. I sell my personality. I like prostitution better than porn because the customers here that I meet are much more interesting than the people on porn sets.”